Puzzles
#04
C-bet Sizing
Intermediate
40bb effective

Why a paired board wants a tiny bet

One flop decision on the button. The pair on the board is doing two things at once — it takes your big bet away, and it hands you a bet you can make almost every time.

  1. Flop

Hand info

Seats
BTN vs BB
Street
Flop
Pot
5.5 bb
Effective stack
37.5 bb

MTT, single raised pot, no ante. Blinds 0.5 / 1.

Pot5.5 BB
D
HERO ·BTN
37.5 BB
SB
FOLD
BB
CHECK35 BB behind
UTG
FOLD
HJ
FOLD
CO
FOLD

FLOP · 37.5BB EFFECTIVE

FLOP · BB CHECKS

6-max table. Hero is BTN with 37.5 big blinds effective. FLOP: Js, 6h, 6d. FLOP · BB CHECKS. Hero holds Ah and Qc.

Hand history

Pre-flop

  • UTGFolds
  • HJFolds
  • COFolds
  • BTNRaises to 2.5 bb
  • SBFolds
  • BBCalls 1.5 bb

Flop

  • BBChecks

You open the button to 2.5bb, the small blind folds and the big blind calls. The flop is J♠ 6♥ 6♦ — a paired board — and the big blind checks. You hold A♥Q♣: two overcards, no pair, no draw. There is 5.5bb in the middle and 37.5bb behind. Everything the source says about this flop describes the two RANGES, not this hand — it prints no frequency for any individual holding here.

What is your action?